Mirror: Jeannie Baker

Past Event: 5 November 2010 to 13 February 2011

Explore the story of two boys from two worlds that could not be further apart. Despite a great geographical and culture separation, their lives mirror one another in essential ways.

Mirror is an exhibition featuring collages from the recent book of the same name by best selling children’s author and artist Jeannie Baker.

Jeannie's vibrant works present a visual story that both contrasts and reveals the parallels in the everyday life of a boy in Australia and a boy in a remote Berber village in Morocco. The collages take us on a journey that reveals more similarities than differences between the two cultures. It's an exhibition of works that every child should see and that people of all ages will enjoy.

Mirror is supported by the Australian Government through the Council for Australian–Arab Relations (CAAR).

Artist’s statement:
The idea for this work came from my delight in travelling in a country very different from my own. At the time in my own country there was much political poisoning of attitudes towards foreigners and foreignness. But travelling alone in remote Morocco, a woman ‘stranger’ myself, I was met with much friendliness and generosity from ‘strangers’. The idea for the work was right there: that outward appearances may be very different but the inner person of a ‘stranger’ may not be a stranger at all. We all live to be loved by family and friends and to be part of a larger family, a community. Inwardly we are so alike that it could be each other we see when we look in a mirror.

The settings I chose for the families in the story are the Valley of Roses (famous for its rose perfume) in southern Morocco and my home in Sydney, Australia. The images started as drawings. Using these drawings as a guide, I then made collages. These were constructed layer by layer on a wooden baseboard using a combination of natural and artificial materials such as sand, earth, clay, paints, vegetation, paper, fabric, wool, tin and plastic. The natural materials were preserved and fresh colouring added.